For more than a decade those who live along the coast lines of the Great Lakes have notice beaches growing as water levels drop.

This spring many of those beaches have gotten a lot smaller. Lake levels are at near-record highs and are expected to continue rising.

"As a boater I kind of like it," Joe Parker said.

Parker has been navigating the Saginaw Bay since 1977. He spent Tuesday working on his vessel at the Bay Harbor Marina.

He said the lake levels haven't been this high in years. As a result, he can travel to places that haven't been accessible by boat for a long time.

"We can go pretty much to any of the harbors around the bay and around the Great Lakes," Parker said.

Meanwhile, employees said it's been a long time since the water has been this high.

"This is great. We need this water in here. You know, I hired in in 1989 and this is how the water was back then. You know we had to raise the docks back up. We've been lowering them for years and now some of the docks are almost under water," said Rob Davies, yard manager at the marina.

Davies is thrilled about more water flowing through lakes and streams, but he said all the extra H2O has one downside. Wood and other debris that has sat dormant is now moving with the current.

"With the water being up all that stuff is coming down the river now and it's something that people need to pay attention to and be watching for," Davies said.

The debris could potentially damage boats. Other than that, higher lake levels are a welcome reality.

"It's been a very slow start to the boating season this year and boats are not in the water. So hopefully it's going to be a much warmer and drier season than it's been for a couple of years," Parker said.